Cased pair of 18-bore flintlock duelling pistols by John Richards, c.1800, estimated £5000-8000 at Bonhams.
His job was farming but after buying an old pistol at the age of 10 from Mr Pullen’s ‘antiques’ shop in Ramsbury, Wiltshire, his 80-year collecting quest began. According to his family, Penrose became a “knowledgeable and shrewd collector, particularly of 17th and 18th century pistols, longarms and blunderbusses.
Much of his time was spent poring over auction catalogues or in his workshop making adjustments or repairs to the latest item in his collection.”
The Penrose Collection of Antique Firearms is now coming up for sale at Bonhams Knightsbridge on November 23. Among the highlights is this cased pair of 18-bore flintlock duelling pistols by John Richards, c.1800, estimated at £5000-8000 pictured above. Richards is recorded at 54 Strand (near the Adelphi), London, between 1782 and 1808.
That original purchase at the age of 10, a French 12-Bore 1763/66 Model military pistol, is also for sale- not for the threepence Penrose paid, presumably, but offered without estimate.
A pair of 15-bore breech-loading superimposed-load flintlock belt pistols by Robert Sharpe, London, c.1700, guided at £10,000-15,000 at Bonhams.
The Penrose collection is preceded a day before by an Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria auction in Knightsbridge. Shown above is an ‘exceptional’ pair of 15-bore breech-loading superimposed-load flintlock belt pistols by Robert Sharpe, London, c.1700, guided at £10,000-15,000.
They have a provenance to the W Keith Neal Collection and were sold at Christie’s London in November 1995 (sold again by Bonhams in 2019). The pistols featured in Great British Gunmakers 1540-1740, by Neal and DHL Back, 1984.
